Bearing



Patented May 22, 1928.

UNITED stares? 1,670,63a jlasafrit-'ar airfare 1 ALEXANDER E. scHEIN, 0F NEW YORK, N. Y., AssIGNoR To THE sPERRY GYRoscoPE f COMPANY.

BEARING.

Application inea March. 31, 1924. serial No. 703,1509.

This invention relates to the so-called plain bearings as distinguished from roller and ball bearings, and although the inven-y tion is herein illustrated in'connection `with a thrust bearing, it should be understood that it applies equally as well to radial bear,-v ings. It has now been worked out yand. is well understood that in order `toy obtain the best results in bearing lubrication, Yan oil film of appreciable thickness,l as distinguished from wetted surfaces, -must be `built up and maintained by the movementof the shaft between the shaft and bearing. In ordinary bearings, in which theload isvin the same direction at all times, this is accomplished more or less automatically by giving the bearing a slight clearance. The shaft in rotating tends to be displaced. in' thedirection of rotation and thereby provides a slightly thicker oillilm on the on. side of the bearing than on the off side. This builds up and maintains an oil film which completely separates the shaft from the bearing. In the ordinary thrust bearing no suchfaction takes place, and the oilis found to be rubbed out between the fiat surfaces so that no oil film is maintained. One vmethod of overcoming this is to make a slight angle between the two ,bearing surfaces so that the oil film is thicker on the on side than-on the off side of the bearing. I am aware that it has been proposed'to accomplish, this result by means of a series ofpivoted blocks or by beveling off the edgesof blocks which have a-cut-out or weakened portion underneath the bevel. It has also 'been proposed toobta'in this result by the employment of bearing'v blocks .without rigidv support upon abase at their leading edges. y

I nd,.however, that this complication is entirely unnecessary and that desirable 11esults may be secured by a plain bearingzof which substantially the wholef of the bearing material is-supported' by the base lwhen con structed according to my invention.

The bearings are naturally,calledfupon to operateY under wide limits of temperature.

This invention provides the best arrangement under these conditions, that is, where the temperature coefficientthroughout the ent-ire thrust plate, including` the base 'and the bearing material, is the same. Y

A further object of my invention is to provde means inthe thrust bearings where, the

shaft operates under a heavy initial load-for rehevingthe bearing of said initial load.

Other` objects of my invention will become more apparent yas the `description thereof proceeds. v i n In the accompanying drawings, y Fig. l is a vertical section through a thrust bearing embodyingmy invention and applied to a propeller shaft. f

. V'Fig.r2 is an enlarged detail in front elevation of one form of my novel thrust bearing plate. y

Fig. 3 is a front elevation vpartly sectioned showing a slightly modified form of thrust bea-ring plate and embodying means for relieving said plate` of the initial load.v

In order to carry outymyv invention, Il employ as a lining for the bearing a special Babbitt or yother substance which elastically deforms easily, or in other words, which has a low modulus of elasticity. yThe relation between these factors is'shown by the equa`- Where D Deformation.`

P=Load per'nnit area. T=Thickness o f themetal. C=.Modulus of elasticity. Therefore, in selecting av Babbitt or other lmetal for my improved bearing, I employ a.

vso

ness `of the bearing employed `at each point l that` a tliickercil filmwill be built up and ,maintained on'the on side than on the off side.fof the bearing. y Al suitable babbitt for such purpose is a babbitt composed of approximately 83+%. tin, 8l% antimony, 8+ copper, and .3l% lead; The above compositioncan be varied widely as long as the above stated requirements are met. f

Referring'to Figxl, I have shown these principles embodied Iin a` thrust bearingA for propeller shafts. yThe shaft is shown at l0 extending through the front wall 1l of la casing .1 2 Iand sealing. ring 13 beingprovided between saidshaft and -thefopening in said front wall. TheshaftlO has Provided there,

on Within casing 12, a thrust collar 14 held in position-by a lock-nut 15 screwed upon ka reduced end portion 16 of said shaft.

I the base 20 to prevent displacement thereon and are further fixed in position by means of bolts 23 extending upwardly through the basev plate 20 and through each of said wedge-shaped blocks 21. Upon said Wedgeshaped blocks are positioned similar blocks 25 oppositely disposed so that the Iupper surfaces of. said blocks 25 are in thesame single plane. l

It lWill beoberved that by my design I secure a much greater thickness of babbitt at pointssuch as A on the on side of the bearing than atpoints such as B on the off side. A much greater deflection of babbitt will be obtained at points suc-l1 as A n because the babbitt is much thicker at this point thanv further back, in accordance With the equation blocks 21 on'the bearing 10 shall be oppor,

sitel'y disposed tothe babbitt blocks` 25 and blocks 21 .on the bearing `10T as shown clearly in Fig. 1, so that thethin portions B of the babbitt blocks 25I on bearing 10` are opposite thethick portionslA. ofthe babbitt blocks 25 onthe bearing 10. Y

Iv haveVV found, however, by many experimentsthat the selection of the material for vthe base 20'is quite as important as the selection of the babbitt and the designof the bearing in general. Many of the` first vbearings constructed` proved failures on account of thefact that it hadinot then been discovered that the unequal expansion of the ,base

'and babbitt, due to temperaturechanges, de-

stroyed or seriously `hampered the proper functioning of thefbearing by altering the proper clearances to maintain the proper oil film. It should be appreciated that We are dealing here with vvery small distances, namely, on the orderof .0005 or less of an inch and that the whole theory of operation Adepends upon the accurate maintenance of the above described oil film relation. I have discovered that the only method by which this may be maintained is to select a material for the base 20 and blocks 21 which has substantiallyI the same temperature coefficient of expansion as the babbitt forming the wedges 25. brass, the proportions of copper 'and zinc being chosen to give the Arerpiired expansion rate. proximately the compostion given above, a brass having from 60 to. 70 percent of copper and 30 to 40 percent zinc would be chosen. l -K In Fig. 2 I have shown the blocks `21 formed integral with the base 20, but 'this is a mere constructional difference with re-` spect to the form shown in Fig'. 3, the latter form being the casier to construct. In Fig.

For this purpose 'I prefer For instance, with a babbitt of ap- 2 there is, therefore, only two types of `material Whose temperature coefficients must be substantially the same, while in Fig. there maybe two or three types of material depending upon Whether thematerial of blocks 21 is the same as that of base 20.` e

Yhile both the blocks 21 and the blocks 25 may be constructed so that all of eachvset of blocks form one 'continuous integral member, I prefer to make each of the blocks of each set separate and individual so as to provide oil grooves 30y between adjacent blocks of the same set.Y i

Fpr circulating the lubricant I provide an oil inlet 31 adapted to supply oil under a predetermined pressure to the interior 32 of `i casing'12, saidY casing being provided on the inside thereof with a lip 33 above ksaid inlet 81A to cause the oil to flow downwardly to the bottom of the casing 12 and-thence upwardly to completely `enclose said bearing and through overflow pipe 35 leading to an out'- let passage 36v outside of` said 'bearing casing to' an outlet 3 7.'` The shaft; 101`is provided with an axialhore 40 through which oil maypass'and With radial bores 42 extending outwardly from vsaid central bore For relieving `the bearing of the initial load, a plurality of oil passages 45 may be provided extending upwardly through blocks 25'to'the facethereof adjacent thrust .collar 14, said passages 45cominunicating with a main passage '4G-Which maybe Within bloclr20, said' passage 46 communicating at its louter vend 47 with a' source ofroil under relatively high pressure. Said passages'45 preferably extend upwardly' through each babbitlblock 25 though the'number of 'said 'passages 45 may be varied at wil1.fMeans are provided connected with each passage 47 whereby the supply of oil under pressure to bearing l0 or to bearing l0 may beA controlled by the operator in accordance with the direction of rotation of shaft l0, and

hence in accordance with which bearing is' to carry the load. In starting, therefore, the operator would transmit oil under pressure to the proper bearing 10 or 10 to relieve said bearing wholly or partly ofthe initial load.

The oil passages and I6 are not `shown in Fig. l because, as'hereinbefore stated, said shaft l() has been described as a `propeller shaft which, therefore, starts under Zero load but in any othercase where shaft l0 starts under an initial load, the oilpressure system shown in Fig. 3 may be employed.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes I have herein described the principle and operation of my invention, together with the apparatus which I now consider to represent the best `embodiment thereof, but I desire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is only illustrative and that the invention can be carried out by other means. Also, while it is designed to use the various features and elements in the combination and relations described, some of these may be altered and' others omitted without interfering with the more general results outlined, and the invention extends to such use.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure yby Letters Patent is:

l. A bearing comprising a sup-porting base, a plurality of sections on said base subject to the wedging action of the lubricant, said base and said sections being composed of metal having substantially the same temperature coefficient, and each section being composed of a metal having a much less modulus of elasticity than the base, said metal being thicker where the oil enters the bearing. f

2. A bearing comprising av supporting base anda babbitted bearing surface thereon having a plurality of oil grooves therethrough, the babbitt of said surface and said supporting base having substantially the i y same temperature coeflicient, and the thickness of the babbitt of said surface being greater by a predetermined amount where the oil enters between the same and its shaft and the elasticity of the babb-itt being such as to provide by the compression of the bab- L bitt a suliicient space for the entering oil film to maintain the `film across said surface.

3. A bearing comprising a supporting base and bearing material of a. much lower modulus of elasticity than the base, wherein the bearing material is composed of wedge-shaped blocks and supported upon similarly-shapedy lbut oppositely disposed blocks fixed to said base so that the upperl surfaces of said bearing material and blocks form a `single plane, characterized by said base and said blocks having substantially the same temperature coeflicient. n

4. A thrust bearing comprising a stationary member, a plurality of circumferentially grouped stationary bearing shoes directly Supported on said member and adapted to support a rotatable member, saidshoes and stationary member having substantially the same temperature coeiicient and said shoes being of a more easily compressible metal than the met-al of said member, and each of said shoes being of graduated thickness -so as to yield unequally under compressionto present inclined surfaces.

In testimony whereof I have afliXed my signature.

ALEXANDER E. SCHEIN. 

